Former President Joe Biden has filed a court intervention request aimed at preventing the disclosure of audio recordings and transcripts tied to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.
A joint court filing submitted on Friday states that Biden intends to seek judicial intervention after the Department of Justice signaled plans to release redacted versions of the materials to Congress and the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The filings note that Biden “intends to seek to intervene to prevent any such disclosures.” The recordings involve conversations between Biden and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer that were acquired during Hur’s investigation into classified documents retained after Biden served as vice president. Although Special Counsel Robert Hur declined to bring criminal charges, his report raised questions about Biden’s memory and handling of sensitive information.
Hur described Biden in his report as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and noted that the former president read passages from notebooks containing classified material “nearly verbatim” on multiple occasions. One recording captured Biden stating, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
Hur also reported that Biden’s memory was significantly limited during recorded interviews in 2017 and in an interview with his office in 2023.
Biden has denied improperly sharing classified information. The recordings have become central to a legal battle over transparency and executive accountability. In the Friday filing, attorneys for the Heritage Foundation accused Biden’s legal team of delaying efforts to block the release and argued that portions of the material had already been made public through quotations in Hur’s report.
The Justice Department indicated it would not oppose Biden’s request to intervene if filed by Tuesday. However, the Heritage Foundation has stated its intention to challenge the move. A spokesperson for Biden defended his position, stating he “cooperated fully with Special Counsel Hur” and turned over the recordings “on the condition that they would not be made public.” The spokesperson also characterized the current release effort as politically motivated, saying, “What’s happening now isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics.”
The Justice Department has stated that if Biden files his intervention request by Tuesday, the disclosure of the materials will be temporarily delayed until at least June. If no request is filed, the department may proceed with releasing the documents sooner.
